Cultivator bracket and cutter



June 23, 1925. 1,543,515

L. W. PICKARD CULTIVATOR BRACKET AND CUTTER Filegl Sept; 15, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 M/z zwme LYNN w. PICKARD June 23, 1925. 5 1,543,515

L. w. PICKARD CULTIVATOR BRACKET AND CUTTER Fiied Sept. 15', 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented June 23, 1925.

UNITED STATES LYNN 1V. PIGKAB-D, OIE SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA.

CULTIVATQR BRACKET AND CUTTER.

Application filed September 16, 1924. Serial No. 738,053.

T 0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I, LYNN W. PICKARD, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of Sacramento, and in the county of Sacramento and State of California, have invented a new and useful Improvement in a Cultivator Bracket and Gutter, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in cutter blades and brackets for cultivators of the rotary type, as a new article of manufacture, wherein an arcuate bracket operates in conjunction with a detachable arcuate cutter blade, formed as a continuation of the arcuate bracket for breaking up the soil.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a new article of manufacture in the form of a cutter blade and bracket for rotary cultivators.

Another object of the invention is to provide a new article of manufacture of the type set forth, wherein a rigid supporting member may be provided of inferior material to rigidly and effectively retain and support a cutting edge of a higher grade and more expensive material.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a practical and economical cutter blade comprising a small portion of a high grade material in the shape of a cutter bar which shall form a continuation of a lower grade supporting structure, the two parts being assembled in an effective and efficient manner.

I accomplish these and other objects by means of the improved device disclosed in the drawings forming a part of the present specification wherein like characters of reference are used to designate similar parts. throughout the said specification and drawings, and in which- Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the rotary portion of a cultivator disclosing my new article of manufacture applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged transverse sectional view of the bracket and cutter blade taken on line 33 of Fig. 4 in the direction indicated; and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged broken rear elevation of the bracket and blade, a portion of the drum beingshown in section.

Referring to the drawings the numeral 1 is used to designate any suitable type of drum mounted upon its axis 2. A transverse bracket 3 is provided with side flanges 4 having lateral extensions 6 provided with suitable apertures 7 by means of which said bracket 3 may be screwed, bolted or otherwise secured upon the periphery of the drum 1 at regular intervals, as disclosed in Fig. 1 of the drawings, said bracket 3 being provided with an arcuate or curved seat 8 to conform to said periphery.

The bracket 3 is provided with an outwardly. extending arcuate portion 9, the purpose of which will hereinafter be more fully set forth. At the outer edge of said arcuate portion 9 I have provided a groove 11 and beyond the groove 11 and in spaced and parallel relation thereto I have provided a beveled surface which is offset from the curvature of the arcuate portion 9 a distance slightly greater than the thickness of an arcuate cutter blade 14 whose inner edge is seated within the groove 11, and which is shaped to form a continuation of the arcuate portion 9 of the bracket 3.

The back of the cutter blade 14 is also provided with a beveled portion 16 which is in a position to engage the beveled portion 12 of the bracket 3 when the inner edge of said blade 14 is seated within the groove 11 of said bracket 3.

A recess 17 is formed within the bracket 3 between the groove 11 and the beveled portionv 12 thereof and suitable bolts 18 pass through the bracket 3 just back of this recess and also through corresponding holes or apertures within the blade or cutter 14.

When these bolts 18 are tightened the recess 17 permits the beveled portion 16 of the blade or cutter 14 to be pulled against the beveled portion 12 of the bracket 3 and the effect of such movement is to firmly seat the inner edge of the cutter blade 14 within the groove 11 of said bracket 3. The bracket 3 thus becomes a rigid support for the cutter blade 14 and by means of this novel arrangement a minimum portion of high grade material as used for the cutter blade may be provided as a cutting surface with a lower grade of material for the supporting bracket. The combination provides a simple, economical and practical structure for carrying out the process of cultivation, by the rotary method, in hard ground where grass and grass roots abound.

The operation of cultivating the soil and breaking the same up into minute particles is illustrated in Fig. 1 of the drawings. The drum 1 is rotated at'a comparatively high rate of speed, approximately two hundred P. M., while moving forwardly. This forward movement of the drum 1 causes each successive blade 14 to bite off a new section of soil, as illustrated, and its comparative rapid rotation first cuts a layer of soil, as illustrated at the first blade below the normal ground line, and the arcuate portion formed by "the blade 12 and arcuate portion 9 of the bracket 3 turns the soil toward the drum and into the pocket formed between the brackets on the periphery thereof. The continued rotation of the drum 1 developes a centrifugal force which is imparted to the severed slice of soil and said severed slice is at once broken up by impact with the bottom of the furrow and the piled soil back of the drum. 1

This is the desired result and the present invention is best designed to accomplish it.

The structure of the cutter blade 14: and its supporting bracket '3 provides a new and improved structure by means of which this desired result of first slicin-gthe soil and then breaking it up by impact is edecte'd. This combination of'the present cutter blade 14 and its supporting bracket 3 provides an economical and practical means by which a durable cutting blade of high grade material may be provided at low costan-d great efficiency.

, Having thus described my invention what I claim 'as new and desire to secure by Letters Patentis -1. Theeombinationwith a cultivator drum cf a plurality of brackets mounted at regular intervals upon the Periphery of said drum, each bracket havin'gan 'arcuate transverse portion terminatingin a groove for the reception ofa cutter and a beveled portionbeyond said 'grooves; a short arcuate cutter blade mounted within each groove and having a beveled portion engaging the beveled portion of the bracket; and means for firmly seating and retaining the inner end of each blade within its respective groove and the beveled portion of said arcuate blade in con-tact with the beveled portion of the bracket. 7 V

2. The combination with a cultivator drum of a bracket having a transversely arranged arcuate portion and provided with a groove at the outer end of said arcuate portion and a beveled portion arranged beyond the groove, an arcuate cutter blade seated within the groove and having a beveled portion to engage the beveled portion of the bracket, said cutter 'blade being an 'arcuate continuation of the arouate portion'of the bracket; and means for moving and holding the beveled portion of the cutter blade against the beveled portion "of the bracket to seat the cutter and retain the same in an operative position firnily within the groove.

3. As an articie of manufacture, a cut- *ter comprising a transverse bracket having a transversely disposed arc-u'ate portion and atransverse groove arranged at the outer edge of said arcua'te portion, and likewise provided with a beveled portion beyond and in spaced relation with said groove and'with a recess between said groove andbeve'led portion; an arcuate cutter b la'de shaped to term a continuation of said arcuate portion of the bracket and having its inner edge seated within said groove, said cutter blade having a beveled-portion to engage the "beveled portion of the bracket; bolts passing through the recess iirtliebracket, between the groove and beveled portion of the bracket, and engaging the arcuate cutter blade to *move the beveled portion of-the cutter on the beveled portion of the bracket and thereby firmly seat and retainsaid cutter withinthe groove andcnto the bracket.

In witness whereof-I hereunto set my signature.

LYN'N W. 'PICKARD. 

